Vought Tower | Thursday Evening

[defenderofdesmoines]

Today had been exhausting, but Annie couldn't sleep.

She'd eventually gotten out of that press junket and had changed her clothes quickly up in her apartment before meeting Hughie (in Times Square, which was kind of genius; it was busy enough that no one would recognize her, and if they did, they'd probably think she was a lookalike) and passing the V off to him.

And now they waited.

While Annie knew, logically, that the news probably wouldn't break until morning, and that she would definitely be alerted when it did, she still couldn't seem to keep from checking things compulsively -- she'd checked her news feed on her phone every few minutes since this afternoon, and even now, late into the night, she had the television facing her bed on with the sound off just in case the lower third of the screen illuminated with a breaking news alert.

She'd done a bunch of push-ups and sit-ups in an effort to dispel this nervous energy and get her mind off things, and had spent a few minutes poking around on her favorite time-killing websites, but nothing was quite distracting enough. She was anxious and so excited about this that she might just vibrate out of her skin, but on top of that, she was lonely. It was so isolating, being in the middle of something like this without any help -- save for her reluctant partnership with an exhausted guy who she really hadn't quite forgiven yet.

And it was that loneliness that had her staring up at her ceiling in bed for a long few minutes before she reached over to her nightstand for her phone.

And then put it back down. It really was late, right?

...but that was also the point, maybe?

Half-hoping that he wouldn't answer, she went ahead and pulled up her texts with Diego, and typed in:

are you up?

[obv for boyfriend, yes. also go ahead and assume 'u up?' means what it means and proceed with NSFW-related caution.]

Comments

[knife_bender]

"Technically your nonworking legs weren't my fault this time," he teased.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Trust me," Annie replied, her cheeks flushing anew, "you are very much a contributing factor as far as why my legs don't work."

That had definitely been more intense than it would have been without Diego involved.

[knife_bender]

"I'll be sorry for that never," he said, the phone jostling slightly as he reached over for a tissue to clean himself up a little.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Yeah, no, you shouldn't be," Annie agreed, biting her lower lip and stretching a little. "Super worth the sacrifice. Even if I kind of miss you more now, yeah."

Like, the closeness would be nice right now, with the distraction of imminent sex taken care of.

[knife_bender]

"We could always try to meet up," he said. "I could wear a disguise or we can meet in an innocuous state like Nebraska."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I could show you what I like about cornfields," Annie said, raising her brows. "They're really private, for one thing."

Which was why they made such great mazes!

"Though I'm also really intrigued by the idea of you in a disguise." Mostly because all her brain was supplying right now was sexy disguises.

[knife_bender]

"It'd have to be the opposite of what I usually wear." So, like, colors and shorts.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Big hat?" Annie asked with a hopeful smile. "Maybe a charming light blue ensemble?"

She was stuck on light blue almost entirely because he'd already vetoed it, yes.

(But also she genuinely thought he'd look nice in it!)

[knife_bender]

He laughed. "Maybe, if that's what it takes to keep me incognito."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I feel like you'd stand out no matter what," Annie admitted with a little tsk. "But I do like this Nebraska idea."

A pause.

"Or I could come to Fandom, like, as soon as I can." Which was looking to maybe be Saturday night or Sunday morning, depending on when she could get away from set.

[knife_bender]

"That's probably the easier way of doing things." And there were no big hats involved.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I'm filming on Saturday," Annie told him, and hey, thanks to the camera, he got to see the face she made when she said that, "but then I've got Sunday and Monday free for the holiday, so like, good luck getting rid of me."

Yes, he would definitely object to this idea and the proposed accompanying clinginess. Surely.

[knife_bender]

"Are you still going to rehearse your cheesy lines for me?" he asked. "Because I like that."

Not quite as funny as the Translucent song, but still hilarious.

"I could probably do a decent Queen Maeve impression."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"You'd have to frown more." Which was really saying something. Those two could have, like, a Resting Bitchface-off. "Actually, most of my scenes this week don't have a lot of dialogue -- I'm with Stormfront a bunch thanks to all the rewrites to give Maeve a love interest."

#BraveMaeve and all. Though when Annie had watched that clip with Maria Menounos, she had sympathized so strongly with Maeve that it had nearly knocked her over.

"So mostly," she added, "I get to hook my thumbs in my belt and look pretty while she says tough things." So lame.

[knife_bender]

"And this is feminism?" He didn't get this branding at all.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"So I am told," Annie said with a little roll of her eyes. "Girls get it done, Diego."

Which almost seemed sort of dirty in the context of, like, still being all naked and kind of afterglowy.

[knife_bender]

"They sure do." No, the dirty of that was not lost on him.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Which just meant Annie was blushing a bit more and kind of burrowing against her pillow a little.

"Well now I'm not going to be able to hear that without thinking about this," she murmured.

Which, like, no problem. She was only surrounded by that phrase.

[knife_bender]

"Good." You think he'd be repentant? "I encourage you thinking of this at all times."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"At all times?" Annie echoed, amused. "People are going to think I have a skin condition, Diego."

Seriously, she could feel how hot her face was, still. It wasn't even embarrassment anymore, really, so much as...like, she did not expect all of that to work for her the way it had.

[knife_bender]

He laughed again. "Okay, only half the time then."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"That seems fair," Annie decided, her smile turning soft and affectionate. "I assume you'll also be thinking about this at least on a part-time basis, too."

And she would certainly be texting him reminders, now that she was marginally less shy about it all.

[knife_bender]

"Pretty sure I'm going to have trouble not thinking about it," he joked.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I might be able to send you some pictures, too. To tide you over until the next time," Annie said, and it was a feat that she managed to maintain eye contact with the camera. "Or maybe you could take some of me when I'm there."

That idea had some merit.

[knife_bender]

Diego lifted his eyebrows, like the idea hadn't occurred to him before. "I really like the sound of that."